Joseph Marion Hernandez

Joseph Marion Hernandez (26 May 1788-8 June 1857) was a delegate to the US House of Representatives from the Florida Territory (W) from 30 September 1822 to 3 March 1823, preceding Richard Keith Call.

Biography
Jose Mariano Hernandez was born in St. Augustine, Spanish Florida in 1788, the son of Minorcan indentured servants. He came to own three plantations prior to the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, and he pledged his allegiance to the United States and served as Florida's territorial delegate to the US House of Representatives from 1822 to 1823. He became the first Hispanic ever to serve in the US Congress, and he went on to serve in the Territorial House of Representatives. He served as a Brigadier-General in the US Army from 1835 to 1838, fighting against the Seminoles, and he was responsible for the imprisonment of Osceola. He was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for the US Senate in 1845, and he later moved to Matanzas, Cuba, dying in 1857.